‘Destiny’ Shrike Vehicle Detailed in New Concept Art

Despite the futuristic setting and the swarms of organic-robot alien hybrids, Bungie’s upcoming sci-fi adventure shooter Destiny has more than a touch of the medieval to it. There’s a class in the enemy Hive species called ‘Knights,’ and the players who are tasked with protecting the last city on Earth from invading forces are known as ‘Guardians.’ Also, pretty much everyone wears armor, which means that in true Halo fashion it’s rare to actually see a human face.

Destiny is an ambitious new IP, covering an expansive range of locations, and since travelling on foot is clearly a sucker’s game Bungie has thrown in vehicular travel. Travelling on wheels is also a sucker’s game, however, so Destiny players will get to ride around on – amongst other vehicles – a rocket-powered hoverbike called a Shrike.

Described by art lead Tom Doyle as a Guardian’s “steed,” a new blog post from Bungie includes several pieces of concept art and 3D modelling showing the Shrike both mounted and unmounted. Don’t worry about parking: the Shrike can be summoned on demand with a paint scheme tailored to the player’s class, as Bungie believes that, “Getting from point A to point B should be fun… not a menu option.” Does that mean no fast travel option? Probably not, but it’s good to have a more tangible alternative.

Check out images of the Shrike below.

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As with the player character, the Shrike can be upgraded over time as it acquires greater mileage (there will probably be extra skins packs for purchase as well). Described as “just one vehicle in an ongoing series,” it sounds like there may be other options for players who are resistant to the Shrike’s charms. Both Borderlands and Far Cry have been described as strongly influential in the design of Destiny, so it should come as no surprise that the game features vehicular transport – and we saw players riding similar vehicles in the gameplay footage at E3 2013.

The blog post is worth reading for the way it’s written more or less in the exact style of a car commercial:

“It swallows the landscape like a bird of prey with an insatiable appetite for scenery; be it the crimson dunes of Mars, the lush jungles of Venus, the dusty craters of the Moon, or the rusted wastes of our own homeworld.”

The scenery itself has been heavily showcased as a big selling point of the new IP, and it definitely looks like there will be plenty of interesting places to go for a Shrike ride: from lush jungles to industrial wastelands. With all that landscape to explore, you might not even want to get to the combat.